1.02 – The Parts of the HeartStrong.com Program
Heart Health Education
Knowledge is power. There is no question about it. This is EXACTLY why you MUST learn about the disease that you are trying to prevent or treat. Learn how it happens, the risk factors, the symptoms, the traditional treatments including medications…and how you can prevent and even reverse this life threatening disease. With this knowledge YOU will be in control. The more you know the better.
Understanding heart disease will help you to see why the HeartStrong.com program is designed that way that it is, allowing you to feel better about sticking with the program.
Only with knowledge can you win each little battle that you have against unhealthy habits and eventually the war against heart disease. The HeartStrong.com program will teach you all of this and more.
“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories” – Sun Tzu
Heart Healthy Eating
The HeartStrong.com program will emphasize heart healthy eating beginning with videos on the different heart healthy diets and strategies to help you adhere to the correct food choices. While most people can quickly learn what a heart healthy diet is made up of, they still have a hard time actually sticking to it, especially long term. This is where HeartStrong.com will give you the tools to change your unhealthy behaviors and overcome the bad habits you may have had for many years.
The USDA dietary guidelines and the Mediterranean diet will be discussed as will a “whole foods, plant based diet” which is the ideal dietary pattern for heart health.
This is where many people will realize that their heart disease or risk factors were predominantly based on their dietary habits over many decades of their life and their heart disease was NOT purely genetic. Eating healthy by far is the most critical part to achieving good health, and not just for the heart. Eating healthy can prevent many cancers and other life threatening illnesses as well, as you will come to learn.
There is much truth to the saying “You are what you eat.” If you eat unhealthy foods, you will be unhealthy. If you eat healthy foods, you will enjoy good health. It is that simple. The most important health choice you make every single day is what you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You must realize that everything you put in your mouth will either cause disease and make your condition or illness worse if you make a bad choice…or it will TREAT your disease and help to improve your overall health if you eat the right foods. Eat to live…don’t live to eat.
The mindset that you MUST have to be successful with sticking to a heart healthy eating pattern for life, was best said more than 2000 years ago by the father of medicine who preached:
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates
Physical Activity
The HeartStrong.com program will guide you about how to be successful with increasing your physical activity. While eating healthy is the most important factor to good health, physical activity is very important as well. For those of you who are overweight or obese, it is quite difficult to lose a LOT of weight without being somewhat physically active.
Everyone is different regarding how they like to be active. The program starts with teaching you the right general types of exercise to do for heart health including how much to do and how intense you should be exercising. Many different tips and tricks will be shared that have shown proven success for many people including ways to get yourself motivated to start an exercise program and how to make it fun.
HeartStrong.com will guide you to create a specific, day-by-day physical activity regimen that fits your fitness level, your schedule and your lifestyle. The different types of exercises will be discussed and many other important topics, such as how to exercise with heart disease and when not to exercise.
Behavior Modification
There is a big difference between learning what is right to do for optimal heart health and actually doing it. You need to be able to follow the HeartStrong.com program closely. Self improvement, getting motivated, developing willpower, growing your support system, lowering stress in your life and improving your sleep habits are all key components to being healthy.
Obesity and Weight Loss
More than 2/3 of adult Americans are overweight or obese. Learn how to lose weight the healthy way. Tips and tricks specific to weight loss will be shared that will supplement what you have already learned in the previous 3 sections. Get to your ideal weight the right way with HeartStrong.com!